Even as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav weathers criticism from predecessors, he is gradually stamping his authority on the old guard in the Samajwadi Party (SP).
During his over four-year stint as chief minister, there have been quite a few times when Yadav chose not to toe the party line, expressing his displeasure -either implicitly or explicitly - at decisions taken by party elders, including his father and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Recently, the SP had to scrap its merger with the Quami Ekta Dal (QED) and not take don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari into its fold after Akhilesh Yadav made his disapproval plain. He said that if SP leaders and cadres worked at the grassroots, the party would not need the support of outsiders. The chief minister commands the support of the younger lot in the party.
The QED is headed by Afzal Ansari, elder brother of Mukhtar Ansari, who is behind bars on charges of murdering Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Krishnanand Rai and several others, including police personnel, in 2005. The QED has influence among minorities in pockets of eastern UP districts bordering Varanasi.
The proposed merger had Mulayam Singh Yadav's blessings and was backed by Akhilesh Yadav's uncle and state Cabinet Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, besides party elders from eastern UP such as Balram Yadav and Ambika Chaudhary. Balram Yadav, the state secondary education minister, was sacked on June 22 for his alleged role in the merger, although later in the month he was reinstated in the Cabinet with the same portfolio after he publicly pledged allegiance to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
After the merger fell through, Afzal Ansari claimed that SP leaders had approached his party with the proposal, to get its support for polls to the Rajya Sabha and the state legislative council. He said the CM had orchestrated the demerger to project a clean image for himself before next year's Assembly polls in the state.
At a media conference, Afzal Ansari said that when Shivpal Yadav had been slighted by the CM, it was clear the QED did not matter for the ruling party. The QED has since announced its decision to field candidates in about four dozen seats in UP.
While the QED episode reinforced Akhilesh Yadav's stature as a power centre in the SP, it brought to the fore once again bickering and differences of opinion in the ruling party. Shivpal Yadav was absent from the June 27 oath-taking ceremony of newly inducted ministers, which was attended by Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and newly-elected Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Amar Singh, who had earlier been expelled from the party.
Tussles between the old guard in the party and the new generation represented by Akhilesh Yadav, over inducting leaders from outside or awarding ministerial berths, are nothing new. In the run-up to the 2012 Assembly polls, Akhilesh Yadav was elevated as UP party president and he led cycle rallies across the state to garner the support of young voters. Around that time, senior SP leader late Mohan Singh was sacked as party spokesperson for speaking at variance with Akhilesh Yadav on the issue of welcoming western UP strongman D P Yadav into the party fold.
After the SP's dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls - it won only five of the 80 seats in the state - there were whispers within the party seeking Akhilesh Yadav's scalp for the loss. However, he held on to both the posts of CM and state president of the party.
Mulayam Singh Yadav stood firmly with his son during those testing times. Akhilesh Yadav then dismissed 36 party leaders holding ministerial ranks, although several of them were later reinstated.
Even in a party dominated by his kith and kin, Akhilesh Yadav became bolder with time. On September 20, 2015, he skipped the inauguration of the 1,980-megawatt Bajaj Hindusthan thermal power plant in Lalitpur district. His father inaugurated the plant and quipped that the CM should have been present to unveil it. While no official reason was given for the CM's absence, speculation was rife that a power struggle was on in the SP's first family.
Since then, a series of events has strengthened this speculation. Akhilesh Yadav was missing for the first few days of the Saifai Mahotsav, the annual cultural and sports extravaganza organised by the Yadav clan in their native village in Etawah district.
This apart, on the CM's orders, several SP leaders, including those considered close to the party's Muslim face, Azam Khan, have either been suspended or expelled.
On October 29, 2015, Akhilesh Yadav stamped his authority again by firing eight ministers and stripping nine others of their portfolios for "non-performance".
In the recent Vidhan Parishad polls, quite a few members of Team Akhilesh were elected.
Thus, allegations made by the Opposition of deteriorating law and order and poor governance aside, the ruling party is back to rallying behind Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls.
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